Bobby Jindal turns up heat on Terry McAuliffe

MILWAUKEE — Republican Governors Association Chairman Bobby Jindal called on Democrats on Sunday to drop Terry McAuliffe as their nominee for governor of Virginia.

The governor of Louisiana seized on a report that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating GreenTech Automotive, the electric car company McAuliffe co-founded, over its conduct in soliciting foreign investors.

Text Size

PHOTOS: Bobby Jindal

“The bottom line is Terry McAuliffe has disqualified himself to be the governor of Virginia. … This scandal is just the final nail in the coffin,” Jindal said at a press conference here during the National Governors Association meeting.

He also unveiled a new ad by the RGA charging that McAuliffe can’t be trusted and that his attacks on Republican Ken Cuccinelli are an attempt to “shift attention away from the news about this federal investigation, … a possible ‘visa-for-sale scheme’ with the Chinese financing McAuliffe’s own business.”

McAuliffe denied wrongdoing in a statement late Saturday night and said he was not aware of the SEC investigation until contacted by The Washington Post.

But that’s the latest in a string of damaging stories about McAuliffe’s business dealings that have boosted Republican hopes of holding the Virginia governorship.

Jindal called on his counterpart at the Democratic Governors Association, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, to look for an alternative candidate. This obviously will not happen, but the call is bold enough to generate more attention for the underlying story.

“As the governor of Louisiana, this scam’s so bad it would even embarrass politicians in Louisiana,” he said. “This is beyond the pale.”

Democrats fired back by highlighting the scandal swirling around the GOP.

The Post reported Sunday that mega-donor Jonnie Williams is cooperating with federal prosecutors in a public corruption investigation of Gov. Bob McDonnell. The governor apologized last week for accepting luxury gifts and said he is returning the more than $120,000 given to him and his family since 2011.

Jindal praised McDonnell’s performance as governor.

“I think he did the right thing by returning those gifts and by apologizing to the people of Virginia,” said Jindal.

But Cuccinelli also received $18,000 in gifts from Williams and so far has declined to return them.

Jindal declined to say whether he thinks Cuccinelli should now return the gifts.

“I know the McAuliffe campaign would like to make this election about Bob, but the reality is this election is about Terry and Ken,” he said, adding that a prosecutor recently cleared Cuccinelli of breaking the law.

Both the McAuliffe campaign and the DGA responded by highlighting this comment from Jindal.

“You know it’s bad for Ken Cuccinelli when his Washington backers refuse to defend his decision to keep $18,000 in gifts from Star Scientific and Jonnie Williams,” McAuliffe spokesman Josh Schwerin said in an email.

DGA spokesman Danny Kanner said Jindal hurt more than he helped.

“Jindal’s right — McDonnell did the ‘right thing’ by returning his gifts,” he said, “and he should obviously call on Cuccinelli to do the same for the sake of Virginians who have lost faith in their state government through this scandal.”